Hurricane Matthew Report 10/8/16

Hello Friends!

Most of you already know all this if we are friends on Facebook, but for those who aren’t, this is an update from our Florida home after Hurricane Matthew paid his visit.

Our little village of Beverly Beach was spared the devastating damage that was done to our south in Daytona Beach and to our north in St. Augustine and Jacksonville.

There is no power in our neighborhood, and it could be days to weeks before it’s restored.  I truly don’t feel it will be that long where we are because we didn’t sustain nearly as much damage as other beachside communities did.  But, that remains to be seen.

One of our neighbors, Bob, chose to ride out the Hurricane in his Sunset Inlet home.  He said he would never do that again, and had never known fear like he did going through that storm.  Thankfully, he is ok and was so gracious to get out as soon as he could to take photos for the rest of us.

Our house is the blue two-story second from the far end.  I think that’s pieces of siding in the yard, but it’s not from our house.  We lost no siding at all.

We lost a palm tree in the front, but it did not impact the house.

Storm surge raised water levels in our inlet over the seawall and sidewalk, but it did not get into homes.

One neighbor lost the two-story screened enclosure over his deck and patio.

This home in our neighborhood lost quite a bit of siding.

There was some water damage to several homes due to a busted window in one house and water entering through the bottom of sliding glass doors in others.  But – all in all – we were very, very fortunate.

At first report this morning we thought it could be a week before bridges would be open, but they were opened earlier this afternoon, and neighbors are returning.  First arrivers  have been in our house and checked everything – we had no leaks.  As soon as they figure out who all has a generator, they’re going to get our stuff out of our freezer and transfer it somewhere safe. 

Julie and her family evacuated also, as did our son-in-law Matt’s family.  They are all safe, back home, and their homes have very, very minimal damage.

Highway A1A was washed away 4 miles south of our house, and one beachside restaurant was destroyed. 

A huge “THANK YOU” to our Sunset Inlet neighbors who have been in touch with us throughout the last few days through social media.  You can’t imagine how much it helped to have that close connection when we are so far away.  We love you all and can’t wait to see you in another week. 

Ted and I say a another huge “THANK YOU” for answered prayers for our family, our friends and neighbors, and all of our homes.  We were very, very fortunate.

God bless.